The Dalai Lama comes to D.C. to talk capitalism

The Dalai Lama prays before he speaks at the American Enterprise Institute in D.C. about happiness and free enterprise. (Jim Watson/AFP/Getty Images)

Two things in life are certain: rebirth and taxes.

That, at least, is according to the Dalai Lama, who spoke at a conservative think tank in Washington, D.C., on Thursday about the spirituality of capitalism.

The American Enterprise Institute hosted the Tibetan spiritual leader, who melded the ideas of free will and free enterprises in a wide-ranging, three-hour long live streamed and live blogged event.

“The very purpose is to derive to seek enlightenment. Happy community, happy family, happy nation. Then happy world. We are far from the world. Where do we start? From the government? No. From the UN? No. From individuals,” AEI.org's managing editor Sharon Kehnemui quoted him as saying.

The Dalai Lama drew on Buddhist text to emphasize personal responsibility, a key sticking point for free-market economists: “Buddha emphasized you can not rely on prayer. You must rely on your actions. Buddha cannot give you what you want, you are your own master.”

He also called for “a century of peace” and a focus on connecting east and west to build economic, political and spiritual stability.

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The American Enterprise Institute seems to be living by those words. AEI's president and vice president traveled to Tibet to meet with the Dalai Lama last year.

Perhaps they are hoping the Dalai Lama can lend some wisdom for libertarians whose idea of a free enterprise system is “under immense strain,” according to the AEI.

“We must stop considering free enterprise purely in terms of economic gain and wealth creation and begin considering it in terms of human fulfillment,” the institute wrote on its website.

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